This study centres on learning to read and methods for teaching reading skills. The aim is to provide a survey of the concept reading skills and the methods developed on the basis of different theories and the methods preferred when teaching children in primary school and why. The study is based on interviews with eight teachers who are working on a dailybasis teaching Swedish in preschool class or Lower primary school. The result of my study is that the majority of teachers do not use a specific method, but rather combine several different methods, thus adapting instruction to each individual pupil. .

The purpose of this study has been to explore the expectations of the primary school on the activities of the pre-school. In order to limit the study I have chosen to compare the expectations found in two different schools. In the first case, the pre-school is integrated with the after-school centre and grade one to three (primary school), into the same building. In the other case, the pre-school share localities with the after-school centre in a separate building, with its own yard, within the primary school area. Since the purpose is rather comprehensive, it has been divided into sub-themes with separate set of questions.

Abstract Title:                       Grades at Primary School ? A study of local politicians' arguments in                       connection with the division into grades at Swedish primary schools.Author:                       Annie LinderUniversity of KalmarC-essay in Social StudiesAutumn 2011 The study aims to investigate local politicians' decisions since municipalities took overSwedish primary education in 1990/91. The arguments put forward in support of how stages are organised have been studied, likewise whether municipalities have acted rationally when making their decisions.Six municipalities are included in the survey. They were divided into three educational categories: lower, middle and high level schools; previous and recent schools and F9 schools with pre-schools and primary schools integrated.Minutes from politicians' and civil servants' meetings have been studied and categorised according to arguments for and against. The most common supportive arguments are about economy and organisation, others concern school premises, trends and the wish for a comprehensive compulsory school.

AbstractIn this study, the conceptions of a number of teachers in the Swedish primary and lower-secondary school about cultural pluralism, the values connected to this pluralism by the Curriculum for the Compulsory School System, the Pre-School Class and the Leisure-time Centre, Lpo 94, and the possibilities for pupils to gain knowledge about these values, were studied. The conceptions of the teachers were regarded and interpreted as ideology, since the study was made from a point of departure containing an assumption about how the content of the curriculum is of importance for the development of relations of power and dominance between different groups in society. The purpose of the study was to interpret the statements of a limited number of teachers about cultural pluralism, values and knowledge, regarding the ontological, axiological and epistemological assumptions and conceptions expressed therein. The empirical data of the study was gathered through qualitative interviews with eleven teachers working in six different primary and lower-secondary schools in the Mid-Sweden region. The conceptions expressed in the statements given by the respondents were categorized.

The aim of this study was to identify and make transitions in Swedish preschool-class-9-years elementary schools visible with a special-needs educational perspective. Transitions in focus were those between preschool-class and primary school, between grade three and four and the last between grade six and seven.In the 1960?th Swedish elementary school were devided into three levels; primary school, intermediate level school and upper level lower secondary school. Those levels were officially removed when the curriculum of 1994 was introduced. However, in some way such levels still exist, for example in organisation and structure of schools, the curriculum and teacher education.How did school leaders design transitions between levels and which tools were used? What kind of information was transferred to help children with special needs and what was the role of the special pedagogue in the transition process?The study was a combination of a quantitative and qualitative method, a questionnaire survey complemented with qualitative interviews with special pedagogues in three schools in a middle-sized Swedish town.The result of the study shows that schools in focus had a work plan.

This essay is about how working with children with autism works with the laws and regulations that fall under the Compulsory School Ordinance and Lgr11 (Compulsory for primary school, preschool classes and kindergarten). The aim of this work was to examine various educators thoughts, experiences and practices related to children with autism in primary school. The study is based on three questions: what kind of rights regarding support do children with autism have in the Swedish primary school, according to the primary regulation and Lgr11? How do the selected primary schools work with the support of children with the diagnosis of autism? And how well does the affected educator?s think that the support works?To answer these questions, four qualitative interviews with various educators, were made. My results show that all four educators believe that inclusive labor of children with autism is a good thing for everyone, as long as it is done properly and with the right order, so that the child with autism gets the opportunity to be part of a social group.

Abstract Title:                       Grades at Primary School ? A study of local politicians' arguments in                       connection with the division into grades at Swedish primary schools.Author:                       Annie LinderUniversity of KalmarC-essay in Social StudiesAutumn 2011 The study aims to investigate local politicians' decisions since municipalities took overSwedish primary education in 1990/91. The arguments put forward in support of how stages are organised have been studied, likewise whether municipalities have acted rationally when making their decisions.Six municipalities are included in the survey. They were divided into three educational categories: lower, middle and high level schools; previous and recent schools and F9 schools with pre-schools and primary schools integrated.Minutes from politicians' and civil servants' meetings have been studied and categorised according to arguments for and against. The most common supportive arguments are about economy and organisation, others concern school premises, trends and the wish for a comprehensive compulsory school.

AbstractSince 1990, special needs educators have been working in both primary and junior school. It has not been easy for the special needs educators to take authority when working with broader educational issues due to the varying requirements placed upon them. The object of this study is to examine how certain primary and junior school teachers describe their expectations of special needs educators and their professional role.I have conducted individual interviews with three primary school teachers and three junior school teachers, who have at least five years experience of working within their respective fields. The interviews have been scrutinized, and the results are presented with the help of five different themes. The results were then analysed in accordance with the two perspectives of special needs education described by Persson (2001) those of both the relational and the categorical perspective.Amongst other things the results show that the view of primary and junior school teachers with regards to special needs educators differ one from another.

This essay aims to investigate the perceptions of responsible personnel in a primary school about the use and importance of EQ, emotional intelligence, in the school's early years. With a hermeneutic approach and by qualitative interviews, we have taken note of the respondents perceptions about EQ. The result shows that EQ can be understood in different ways. Instead of having a common understanding of what EQ is the respondents mention that there are different areas associated with EQ.  Two major results are 1.

When foreign children first arrive to Sweden, the first contact they get with the local society is through primary school. Therefore, the primary school have the fundamental role to attend the foreign and their families.The teacher plan for primary schools (Lpfö98) make it very clear that children with foreign background are given the full support in their development in a multicultural society. The aim of this report is to investigate how two pre-school teachers and one school counselors? work with these newly arrived children in preschool to support their integration in the preschool.As the role of the primary school is so vital for children with foreign background in this new society, I would therefore like to take the opportunity to explore and show how meaningful the role is of teachers to integrate these children into the Swedish primary schools.In this report, the theory part is treated based on integration and on the schools suspension to multicultural backgrounds. For this report, I even stress the support of the primary school and how they meet the foreign children and their families.

The purpose of this study was to explore preschool- and primary school teachers? perceptions of fairytales, why they use fairytales and what thoughts they have about the impact of fairytales on children?s reading and writing development. We interviewed seven teachers and three preschool teachers in northern Sweden to find out how work with fairytales is carried out in preschool and primary school. We also interviewed twelve pupils who were seven and eight years old to find out what they thought of fairytales in primary school. The result showed that preschool- and primary school teachers had a positive attitude towards fairytales and the opportunities provided by fairytales.

Since the 1990?s the Swedish school system has undergone major and recurring structural reforms. Two of the most comprehensive changes has been the shift of primary schools as an integral part of the welfare state to the responsibility of the municipalities as well as the introduction of free school choice for the students. Through two months of participant observations and semi-structured interviews this thesis seeks to answer the question of how these reforms has come to effect the work of teachers in a medium sized public school in a small municipality in the outskirts of Stockholm. Earlier research has shown that public schools in socio-economically vulnerable areas are disadvantaged due to the reformation of the school system (Beach & Sernhede, 2011; Östh, Andersson, & Malmberg, 2013).

The aim with this thesis was to study how primary school teachers perceive their mission in working with inclusive education. The aim was also to study their thoughts and experience of the Special education support. To conduct the inquiry twelve primary school teachers from two different communities in Sweden were asked to give their views of inclusive education. The central issues was how the primary school teachers interprets the concept of inclusion, the opportunities and obstacles they perceived and how the Special education support was formed in the work with inclusion in their schools. The result shows that the majority part of the primary teachers interprets the concept as a spatial or social inclusion.

Since the 1990?s the Swedish school system has undergone major and recurring structural reforms. Two of the most comprehensive changes has been the shift of primary schools as an integral part of the welfare state to the responsibility of the municipalities as well as the introduction of free school choice for the students. Through two months of participant observations and semi-structured interviews this thesis seeks to answer the question of how these reforms has come to effect the work of teachers in a medium sized public school in a small municipality in the outskirts of Stockholm. Earlier research has shown that public schools in socio-economically vulnerable areas are disadvantaged due to the reformation of the school system (Beach & Sernhede, 2011; Östh, Andersson, & Malmberg, 2013).

This study is about what teachers in primary schools say that they are doing to create a school for all.The purpose of this study is to find out what teachers in primary schools say that they do on their mission to create a school for everyone and how they organize teaching to achieve this. The study was conducted as an interview of five teachers from elementary school of different gender and with a qualitative method because it provides a great opportunity to problematize, interpret and understand the responses of the interviewees.The results show that all the teachers think that their mission is to teach so that they can give each student what they need to achieve the goals. This may not be every day but over time, they hope that all students feel that they get so much of the teacher's time that they need..